Resolve
by Lady Salazar
Summary: When Ichigo condemned himself to a fate far worse than death or destruction of the universe, it wasn't for anything like love. Short oneshot, time travel.


**Disclaimer**: Bleach does not belong to me. I'm only playing with them a bit.

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_**Resolve**_

The war was lost. Shinigami slaughtered, the material world and the Soul Society in ruins, Hueco Mundo teeming with Hollows, millions upon millions now that there were none with the power to purify them and send them on as wholes.

The war was lost, the world was at an end, the balance tipping and tipping and about to fall, and the King didn't care.

Of course not. After all, both Heaven and Hell were unaffected by the state of the fluid worlds.

By the imbalance was brought destruction of the fluid worlds. And following that, creation. In his own image, rather than his forbearers.

That was Soul Society's king.

And to think they had fought Aizen. To think they had defended the bastard.

In the end, the shinigami had brought the end of the world down on themselves.

Ichigo took a final draw on the bottle of sake, before tossing it aside, empty, into the endless billowing white sand. "Well, old man," he said aloud, despite knowing he would never hear Zangetsu again. The zanpakuto avatar was a part of himself, after all. "A day more, and the merry little rescue troupe will arrive. I'd say it's time to get this party started." A part of himself, and he was the master of his soul..

All the same, he could imagine Zangetsu's reply, testing his resolve.

_It's the only way_, he replied silently.

Again.

_The lesser of two evils. _

And one last.

_I don't care. _

Ichigo got to his feet, stretching languidly. Checking that Zangetsu was at his side, sealed, he nodded, jaw set, and vanished with a soundless Shunpo.

No. Not Shunpo. But not Sonido either. _Shindo _- vibration. Sound on a level that spiritual bodies couldn't perceive.

He stopped on a dime, not stirring even a grain of sand, seeing Las Noches come into view. The complex being so large, he realized he was still miles away, and he knew he shouldn't have stopped. He was only delaying the inevitable; Kurosaki Ichigo did not go back on his resolve.

So many died here. All of them, for no reason. For a madman worse than the one they fought, even. He'd laughed over the irony too long and too humorlessly to even snort now.

Shindo.

He was off again.

The path splits into five: one where Rukia died, one where Renji was nearly crippled, one where Uryu lost his powers for the second time, one where Chad went psycho, and the last, where he learned what it meant to be a true shinigami/Hollow hybrid. Where he had ripped Noitora to pieces using his bare hands and his teeth, and where Orihime had lost the courage to look him in the eye.

Ichigo felt the reishi around him shift, had a brief sense of vertigo. Good, they'd detected him, and would alter the passages. Orihime's quarters had been far from the main complex, and they probably thought he was here for her, so he was heading to right way.

The corridor straightened out, and he saw a door ahead. Hardly pausing in his stride, he threw it open and passed through.

"Well, if it ain't Ichigo!"

How very like Ichimaru Gin to steal Aizen's chance for an impressive greeting.

Soul Society's most infamous traitor took it in stride and with an amused look, settling his impassive smile on Ichigo. "A little lost, are you?"

"Hardly," Ichigo replied. "Though I might be tomorrow." _Three whole days of running with Las Noches in sight but not getting closer…. _

They could sit there and dance around topics for hours if they wanted to, Aizen was polite like that, and now the show had started, Ichimaru wouldn't interfere, only watch. Ichigo didn't feel like it.

He narrowed his eyes, judging Aizen's reiatsu. Easily twice captain level, without hybridization. "Do you truly think yourself capable of killing the king of Soul Society?"

"Of course." No blink, no surprise. Not even arrogance - just calm assuredness of his own strength. Aizen had killed Seireitei's three strongest captains singlehandedly before Ichigo had stepped in and finished the half-dead former captain, so he supposed he had a right to be confident.

"And you would, given any opportunity."

Aizen's interest was piqued. "Yes, I would. Why?"

_Moment of truth. _

"Because I want the king dead myself. If for better reasons than you."

"Really." It was only interest Ichigo could read now; Aizen was already plotting how to use this professed desire to his advantage. Though he didn't like the man, he could respect his cunning. "What reasons would they be, I wonder?"

He saw no point in not telling.

"There was a boy who didn't know any better," said Ichigo, with uncharacteristic candidness. "In the background there was a force too steeped in its own superiority to think of changing its ways, in the service of one all too willing. And in the midst? A lesser evil."

But that didn't mean he felt as though he should.

Aizen arched an eyebrow. "You believe what the present king would make of the world is less than I would? I must say I feel honored. You do realize the world as it is was created at his will?" It wasn't contempt or condescension, merely curiosity.

"But you're wrong." Ichigo felt his lips upturn into a slight smirk. "The world cannot be so simply changed. To do so, one has to clean the slate. Destroy what already exists… the fluid worlds, where souls can pass to and from with relative ease. It's not a quick process."

_But not slow either. _

The years of a soul with reiatsu could be measured in the thousands. It had taken around a century.

"Is that so." If Aizen was surprised, if the information was new to him, he didn't show it. "But if I may ask… what is it you intend that you believe I could not accomplish already?"

Ichigo had no idea how those words could not seem arrogant. Brushing the thought off, he looked down, closed his eyes, and inwardly steeled his nerves. _Resolve_.

"Every second you wait for the Hogyoku to fully awaken and hold off the creation of the Royal Key, the shinigami of the Court Guard companies train and grow stronger. And they hold the advantage of both numbers and home ground. I know a way around that."

"You do?"

Resolve.

"I know where to find the original Royal Key."

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Comments on characterization would be much appreciated. It's my first time writing any of these characters, so anything that could help me improve is welcome.


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